Die Tageszeitung, TrV 256, Opus 76 (1928), is a much neglected piece for male voice choir (TTBB) and orchestra. It was written at the request of the music director of the Vienna Schubertbund, and is a setting of poems by Joseph Eichendorff, the ever popular romantic poet. Strauss set four poems. There is an opening acapella verse from Eichendorff's Glucksritter, which leads into the first movement Der Morgen, followed by Mittagsruh, Der Abend and ending with Die Nacht. The main poems are straighforward to translate and translations are widely available. The introduction has a little difficulty: it is taken from the Novella Die Glucksritter (The fortune seekers) and is not contained in standard collections and hence not translated. The last line of the intorduction is "Gott, Gott behüte Land und Haus". In modern German this makes no sense: God, God forbid land and house. However, replace "behuete" by "beschuetze", and it is "God safeguard land and house". The archaic German of Eichendorff needs to be seen for what it really is.
The introduction:
The Daytime arrives,
When the cock crows on the roof,
The moonlight fades,
And the stars cease their watch
God, God protect both land and House.
Morning.
The first ray of morning sun flies
through the quiet foggy dale,
the awakening forest and hill rustle:
those who can fly, take flight!
And into the air the elated man
throws his cap, exclaiming,
"Song has wings as well,
so let me sing merrily!"
Out you go, far into the world,
disheartened with dragging feet;
what leaves you hopeless in the dark of night,
morning light gives it hope.
Midday peace.
Over hills and stream and valleys
silent joy and painful heartaches
cast a secret weave and shimmer, sunbeams!
Musingly day's bustle pauses
in the dark-blue sultry hour,
and eternal deepest feelings,
that of which you're unaware,
secretly and great and lowly
leave the ever trodden mazes,
step out of an unguarded breast
into still and boundless spaces.
Evening
When men's loud joys fall silent,
The earth rustles as if in dreams,
Wondrously, with all its trees,
What the heart has hardly known:
Times long past, gentle griefs;
And there sweep soft shudders
Like lightning through the breast.
Night
How lovely it is here to dream away
the night in the quiet woods,
when in the dark trees
the old fairy-tales echo.
The mountains shimmer in the moonlight
as if lost in thought,
and through the tangled undergrowth
the plaintive stream flows.
For wearily upon the meadow,
Beauty walks now to her rest,
and with cool shadows
Night covers up the dear one.
There is an eerie lament
in the quiet splendour of the wood:
the nightingales sing
about her the entire night.
The Stars rise and fall -
When are you coming, morning breeze,
To scatter the clouds
From the dreamy child ?
Already stirring in the trees,
The lark will wake soon -
So I want to faithfully dream away
The night in the silent forest
